NEEMRANA (India) Feb 21: This year’s Nobel literature laureate V.S. Naipaul disrupted an Indian literary festival here on Thursday by railing at an author who was taking part in a panel discussion.

Author Nayantara Sehgal — the favourite niece of India’s first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru — was shouted down by Naipaul, minutes after she opened a panel discussion on issues of colonialism and an author’s relationship with gender and oppression.

“My life is short. I can’t listen to banalities,” Naipaul yelled at the discussion, titled “Midnight’s Children: The Weight of History.”

“And this thing about colonialism, this thing about gender oppression, the very word oppression wearies me. I don’t know why, I think it is because banality irritates me.”

Bestselling author Vikram Seth who has authored works such as “Golden Gate” and “A Suitable Boy” tried to hush Naipaul by patting him on gently on the back with disastrous results.

“What are you doing!” fumed Naipaul: “This is only the second literary conference I have come to. The first was a calamity. I have attended two sessions here ... This has been the least fortunate session for me.

“If writers just sit and talk about oppression, they are not going to do much writing. And my difference on that kind of attitude is that I have to make a living by writing.”

Naipual also challenged the validity of talking about colonialism when British rule in India ended more than 50 years ago.

“Give me a date for colonialism. When does it begin ... otherwise this is like dancing in the air,” he said

Indian novelist Amitav Ghosh, who had the unfortunate task of moderating the panel discussion, failed to get a word in.

Stunned by the attack, Sehgal whispered to Ghosh that she would not “say a word” more.

“Naipaul is fantastically rude. It is difficult to organise a festival with him as an invitee,” said an official from the Indian Council of Cultural Relations organising the festival at the Neemrana Fort in Rajasthan. “No one knows who he is going to snub next. Nayantara Sehgal is in shock.”

Naipaul, who was born in Trinidad as the son of an Indian civil servant, has written extensively about his roots. His 1977 book “India: A Wounded Civilization” was scathingly critical of the modern India.—AFP